Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Here's a two-hour podcast featuring most of my absolute favorite records of 2009, another fruitful year for outstanding underground rumblings in punk, rock, and outer-zoning tangents (see below for best of '09 lists and AFS Awards winners)...

Download this program within two months at this link...CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate.orCLICK HERE for 320kbps rate.or, if you have a slower/20th century connectionSTREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!

There was so much for me to be excited about in 2009! See me straight-up fist-pumpin' Jersey Shore-sytle, son???...It was like that all year long!

The zeitgeist of reverb-drenched fractured pop by fuzz-loving garage-punks and deep-V-necked trendies kicked into super-saturation mode as the tide of Black Lips and Oh Sees apers and overly self-conscious name-droppers came flooding in like a tsunami wave. Or was that the album Wavvves by the band Wavves? That most hyped indie album of early 2009 was already obsolete by summer due to unsubstantial and utterly forgettable songs. Haters have let that flavor linger to keep hating on it even more, but the shimmery endless-summer psych-pop of my hometown Sacramento's Ganglians issued four records--highlighted by the Monster Headroom album--which are the antidote to the lo-fi pop doldrums. While the Ganglians are part of the "glo-fi" or "hypnagogic pop" movement named by Pitchforkmedia.com, they are emerging from the backlash against this unfortunately-named subgenre because of the strength of their songs, their genuine funloving spirit, and the indubitable fact that amongst all the contemporary bands which critics compare to the Beach Boys, the Ganglians are the best at those vocal harmonies. They criss-crossed the continent playing second billing to Wavves during their first nationwide tour, and now the future's bright for them with a new label for 2010 and a planned European tour in late spring. While their future is bright, they truly became a local treasure when they strengthened a link to our past; one of the true highlights of all the live music I saw in 2009--approximately 400 bands--was the Ganglians' cover debut of "Aliens in Our Midst" by late-70s Sacto legends the Twinkeyz.

The most momentous local record of 2009 was the Deads 12" EP by the Mayyors, and its B-side opener "Clicks" was the most integral full-band achievement following two earlier EPs in 2008. The most tenacious mach-speed motorik drumbeat drives forward a supremely nifty interlocking bass/guitar riff while singer John Pritchard is in his very best and most aggressive form, and that's just describing the first verse! As the band varies from the riff, it becomes even more thrilling as the Chris Woodhouse's arcane guitar synth device is deployed to warp waves of perfectly tuned guitar scree in time with the constantly stout cadence, and as a grand finalé, the rhythm section flourishes with thundering tumbles and divebombing bass slides. Each member is achieving optimal performance simultaneously within a stunningly arranged and peerlessly produced song. The Mayyors remain elusive to most Sacramentans due to limited live local activity and zero web presence. If you would like your noise-rock to be as partyhardy as it is pugnacious, then you should find these Mayyors.

While the Mayyors and Ganglians sound nothing alike, they share many fans here in Sacto and Davis because of their propensity for rocking the same intimate living rooms and basements, and because the ever-expanding definition of "psychedelic rock" actually bridges their music. Indeed, the weird, wild, and far out has crept into every cranny of underground music, and that has brought a wide variety of music closer together, as well as fans. Tastes have become eclectic enough to endure--if not embrace--a four-band bill of glittery pop, thuggish sludge, fancy-free improv-scribble-jazz, and a weirdfolk troubadour from start to end. As the bands influence each other and the fans share it together, you know something important is brewing. Music that is broadly influenced has a tendency to be broadly influential (and vice versa...just think of how the ska-punk of the 90s became an evolutionary dead end). A few bands can blend nearly all of it together on one album, such as Wild & Inside by Eat Skull. The Portland band is best known for a style that cakes punky scuzz around a pure jangle-pop kernel, but on this second effort, they summoned the ghosts of Syd Barrett, Joe Meek, and Bruno Nicolai for some chilling moments of filmesque beauty.

Among the best albums of 2009, many ghosts of psychedelic's past flew into the future over a field of punk, garage, lo-fi pop, and even minimal synth and industrial music. On Low Blows by Mattress, the macabre croony warble of Rex Marshall's posi-self-help lyrics over a bed of downer darkwave sounds like an odd mix on paper, but it flows outta the speakers dazzlingly and seemingly very naturally. Facilidad?, the sixth album by Impractical Cockpit, harkens back to the earliest days of industrial music, but reflects the experience of the last decade and a half of no wave and noiserock damage, the cultural experience of living in pre-Katrina New Orleans, and coping with Katrina's after-effects. Little Claw's third album, Human Taste, brilliantly bridges awesome post-riot-grrl ladypower with primordial ooze of the protopunk era. Talk Normal's Sugarland brings similarly striking ladypower to stridently atonal yet seductive artrock. Purling Hiss burns brightly on his self-titled album with blown-out white-hot guitar crunch and pyroclastic leads. Meercaz achieves the same on his self-titled, but varies the pace with a protopunk stew with a hint of every type of spice. Sonny & the Sunsets revive a fancy for Donovan alternately with Jonathan Richman on their alluring debut, Tomorrow is Alright. On Men Are Talking, the Life Partners playfully dish perplexingly dubious lyrical matter over clever rock with surprising AM-gold flavors. Best of all, the local SS Records label unleashed a stunning double-LP by Dan Melchior und Das Menace and the most enchanting album of dark wonder, Late Night by the upper Sacramento Valley's Nothing People.

The Anals' Total Anal was the toughest to cut, and I'm still pondering who else to cut to make room for Agent Side Grinder's Irish Recording Tape which I heard for the first time in the last couple of weeks.

Best Overall Album.... Wild & Inside by Eat SkullBest EP.... Deads 12" EP by MayyorsBest brainworm pop hit...."Flowers" by FlightBest song for headphone listening..."Blue Tentacles" by Dan MelchiorBest cover version..."Late Night" [Syd Barrett] by Nothing PeopleBest late-night listening album....Late Night by Nothing PeopleBest festival....Gonerfest 6Best singles club... Columbus Discount Singles Club, Year OneBest reissue... Something That Would Never Do by MirrorsBest new local band in Sacto/Davis....GGreen (the full rock band version)Best new bands on west coast....Rank/Xerox, Sonny & the Sunsets, and The WhinesBest song about pizza (and there were a lot of them!)...."Pizza All Around" by Happy BurgerBest song for cleaning out ears...."Golem Smoke" by FNU RonniesBest overall live band....Thee Oh SeesBest band to hang out with....XYXBest band to party with....DadfagBest new trend in music right now....FUN!Best trend that I hope gains more momentum in '10...."They're rather like industrial music of late 70s/early 80s"Best album cover art....Electric Bunnies board-game gatefoldBest drone....???? (Squim didn't make an album this year, as far as I know!)Best irreverent band name....JuavvesBest song titles for future band names....The PheromoansLifetime achievement award....Michael YonkersMost vinyl-worthy cassette....Edible Houses by Warm ClimateMost face-melting psych-rock scorch-fest....Eternal TapestryMost humorous between-song banter....CaveMost sweltering show....Coconut Coolouts @ DAM House in Davis (my fingers got pruney!)Most physically taxing band (for me literally)....The Hunches @ Funcastle, SactoMost surprising "the old guy still rocks" moment....Paul Collins' Beat @ Fire Escape in Citrus HeightsBest energy drink....NOS punch (red top) in blue 24oz canisterBest-value burger overall....Faisal's Halal in SacramentoMost sinful burger....Back on the Block in Sacramento's "Italian Combo Burger"Best Mexican food here in Sacto or maybe even anywhere....Lalo's or Toledo's MarketMost ridiculous place to see a show....Loco's Only in OaklandThe band I wish I coulda started....Puffy Areolas

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

My special live guest tonight was GGreen, who take the show on the road all over the Golden State next week. Full details below. If you gotta party in L.A. or San Diego on 12/30 or 12/31, get in touch, please! (Email, not MySpace!) California, please meet the best new band to form in Sacramento in 2009! Also, enjoy some more new records and tapes I've gathered from my mailbox. I guess the best-of-2009 retrospective will hafta happen next week...

Download this program within two months at this link...CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate.orCLICK HERE for 320kbps rate.or, if you have a slower/20th century connectionSTREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!

GGreen's cousin band a recent in-studio guest Vichy Water also saw the release of their new cassette, so look out for more new sounds of young Sacramento! Fans of Teenage Panzerkorps' more dance-accessible moments should enjoy it, I think! Follow the label link above or Paypal $7ppd to dylancraver at gmail dot com....

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

* the debut vinyl from my fave new SF Bay band of '09, Rank/Xerox!* "Purple Hiss" scrambled my brain before flattening me; 'scuse me while I go lay down!* Sounds like Impractical Cockpit has crowded somebody outta my year-end top-ten albums list!* No Balls offer a promising life after Brainbombs for fans of the dearly departed dukes of degeneracy!

Maybe this Purling Hiss album will also make a run for my year-end top-ten list, too...gonna hafta listen non-stop for a day or two and then decide. First impression = WOW! If you thought Birds of Maya was appealing at all, this side-project eschews all of the parent-band's restraint for a maelstrom of fuzz 'n scuzz that compares very favorably to top dogs of the J-Psych brigade from Les Rallizes Dénudés through the 90s and early aughts such as High Rise, Nishi Nihon, etc. A little bit o' research led me to this sweet lit'l streamable rocker which shows a different side of Purling Hiss...a more contemporary pop style with something of a 70s AM Gold fascination. There's yet another facet revealed on the self-titled album--available in vinyl and CD format--which is a noisy streak that's completely opposed to that easygoing vibe of "Run From the City". This guy's music might just hafta become my new obsession for a while.

Download this program within two months at this link...CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate.orCLICK HERE for 320kbps rate.or, if you have a slower/20th century connectionSTREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

If cynics and haters and Carrie Brownstein say there's nothing original happening in today's music, well...did they ever consider how impossible (or impossibly arbitrary) their standards of originality are? Damn near everything that's been retroactively credited as original was really just a rather unique derivation of influences which had previously never been successfully blended, or were atavistic and overdue for a rebirth. I'm offering several exhibits for you to ponder this week, including a couple songs from the debut cassette by Chicago's Brain Idea (pictured right), two ripe riffs plucked at their peak of perfection by Siltbreeze for inclusion on the superb Skulls Without Borders 10" comp/"sampler", and a pair of killer songs from 2009's best new band of ladypower from leftfield....plus more, as always....ENJOY!

Download this program within two months at this link...CLICK HERE for 192kbps rate.orCLICK HERE for 320kbps rate.or, if you have a slower/20th century connectionSTREAM IT HERE by next Monday night!

About Me

As long as DIY bands and artists keep me amazed, I will keep doing radio and extreme-blogging as a tribute to them. In case you are an old classmate looking for me, yes, this is "Rick Ele" here.
If you have material available in any format, please send it to...
KDVS Radio, ATTN: Music Dept, 14 Lower Freeborn Hall, Davis, CA 95616, USA (Please don't send it to my personal ATTN; you can trust KDVS Music Directors to get the good stuff added to the largest and best music library of any radio station this side of the Mississippi! And there are dozens of other really excellent DJs here who will play the good stuff if you send it!)
...wanna get in touch about anything else? rickele(AT)gmail(DOT)com